Girl Develop It Ottawa: A Developer’s Guide to Interaction and Interface Design

Check out the upcoming workshop for Girl Develop It Ottawa - it looks awesome!

From the GDI Ottawa blog:

Have you ever wondered what role design plays in development? How are design decisions made? Are you a developer who is designing and implementing your own interface without the support of an interaction designer?

During this 2-hour course, we’ll review some common interface design patterns and test drive some pragmatic approaches you can use to create and validate simple, intuitive interactions. Topics include: Basic Controls, Page Layout, Forms, Menus and Wizards.

This course will be packed with examples, with plenty of time for hands-on exercises!

Find out more details and RSVP here

 Don't quote me on it, but I bet this course will fill up fast, so do sign up soon if you're interested!

Help Design a Book for Computer Science Beginners

Originally posted on my blog, The Female Perspective of Computer Science.

Bringing computer science to the masses is my passion, through education and outreach.  I've run mini-courses for girls, designed a video game, lead workshops for professional women, taught arts and social science students, and TA'ed for computer science students.  Now I have a chance to broaden my impact thanks to a professor named Binto George, who contacted me about a book he wanted to write.

Proofreading by Julia Manzerova

Our book is all about exploring what computer science is, and finding the beauty in it.  We're going to look at a variety of CS topics in everyday contexts.  We are taking extra care to make the content appealing to a wider audience, women included.  Our main targeted use is for non-major CS courses like the one I taught for arts and social science students, though we hope that many more people than that will enjoy it.

We recently put together a really short survey to help determine the best topics to focus on.  We would very much like to have your input on what you'd like to see.  We would very much appreciate the two or three minutes it would take for you to fill it in.

Survey for Computer Science Book

Thank you so much, and watch this space for periodic updates as the project progresses!

The Women of EA: What's it Really Like?

This video is quite positive about working for video game company Electronic Arts, even as a minority female.

(video link)

I am happy to see this, but I can't help but question what it's really like.  I have heard so many horror stories about excruciating hours and lack of life balance.

What do you think? Have things changed?